Roach confident ahead of Bangladesh Tour

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Kemar Roach said there was a positive vibe lingering from the West Indies triumph at the ICC World Twenty20 Tournament earlier this month.

The West Indies fast bowler said winning the World T20 was a welcomed boost of confidence for the players and they now hoped to transfer some of that success into others forms of the game, starting with the tour of Bangladesh next month.

“The players are very confident following that [WT20] success,” Roach told WICB Media. “It’s good to be around them right now. It’s been very inspirational and they are talking stuff that is very useful to me.

“I’m glad to be around them at this time – I’m always glad to be around them – but at this time, it’s even better now we have had that bit of success, so we are looking to go forward now and move on from strength to strength.”

Roach was not a member of the WT20 squad that prevailed over hosts Sri Lanka to win the tournament, the first major title West Indies have won, since they lifted the ICC Champions Trophy eight years ago in England.

He has however, kept himself in shape, playing matches for his club in his native Barbados, helping Maple to reach the Final of the national One-day competition.

“I was inspired by the passing of Barrington Yearwood Sr, one of our club stalwarts and manager of our senior team,” he said.

“He was a great guy and we had a lot of fun times with him. We wanted to win the title in honour of his memory, but we were not successful in the Final.

“I’m glad to be involved with the West Indies team again and I am hoping that some of the work I did for my club I can bring it into my bowling for West Indies on this tour.”

Roach is tied with three other players as the second-most successful bowler in Tests this year.

He and South African fast-medium bowler Vernon Philander, along with off-spinners Saeed Ajmal of Pakistan and Graeme Swann of England have all snared 39 wickets.

Each of the West Indies fast bowler’s scalps have come at 22.25 runs apiece in the seven Tests that he has played.

Only England fast bowler Stuart Broad with 40 at 27.77 in nine Tests has more wickets than the above quartet.

Roach noted the work of West Indies coach Ottis Gibson in his improvement and was looking forward to reaping more success on the forthcoming tour.

“Bangladesh is a tough place to play the game, so we will go there and quickly assess the conditions, and try to adapt as quickly as possible to give it our best shot,” he said.

“The coach has been doing a lot of work with me and we have had a lot of good chats about bowling. The work has paid off. I’ve gotten a lot of wickets, a few Man-of-the-Match and Man-of-the-Series awards.

“The ICC [the sport’s World governing body] has me at No.10 in the Test rankings and I am very confident in my game right now. My aim now is to try to become the No.1 bowler in the World in the not-too-distant future.”

West Indies face Bangladesh in two Tests from November 13 to 17 at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in that country’s capital of Dhaka, and from November 21 to 25 at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in the south-western city of Khulna.

The Tests will be followed by five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 Internationals.